sticks in the park

Hiii! Thanks for stopping by my blog. My posts here have been non-existent for the past few weeks because, as I mentioned earlier, my computer was dying on me, little by little. This weekend was the last straw. This girl 'needs' internet.

A couple of weeks ago, Abby, the boys & I headed outside after work for some play time in the park. I am definitely appreciating the extra few hours of sunshine in the evenings. It's hard to believe that just a month ago it got dark at five and now the sun doesn't seem to set until after eight. I used to see Spring as a rainy, muddy pit stop that stood between me and summer, but I'm learning to appreciate it more.

While the boys tossed around the football, Abby & I romped around a bit.

Although Victoria Park isn't technically a 'dog park', lots of owners give their pups some off leash time here. I'm a little hesitant to let her off-leash unless there is another dog to keep her close. She is so easily distracted and tends to wander jet off at high speed when she gets her first taste of freedom. Luckily for her, though, there were a ton of sticks laying around so I decided to chance giving her some freedom. Luckily for me, it worked!

I leave the leash on her, so she's easier to grab.

When we try to play with her outside, whether it's with a ball, bone or her favorite stuffie, she wants nothing to do with us; but all we have to do is find the biggest, baddest stick and she is all over us. She is a wild-dog through and through.

I hope you all have a lovely, relaxing Sunday!

technical difficulties: round three

I think you should know that my computer is dying a slow and painful death. On top of getting a new hard-drive to the tune of $200 in January, my power cord recently decided to give out on me.
Thankfully, the roommate B has an old Dell, so I've borrowed his cord in the interim.

Un-thankfully, I also have a persistent parasite of a Java virus that refuses to let me use Firefox or upload photos. Oh, and I should mention that it's been exceptionally well trained in the art of hiding from my anti-virus software.

In two days, D & I are making the hour long bus ride to the Best Buy across the bridge. In two days, I will be around $1000 poorer. And, in two days, I can write a proper blog post.

Woe is me.

Love,
Janelle

turquoise & caicos: late night manicure.

I had this semi-intellectual post planned for today about recent books I've read and ones I hope to read soon.

Instead, I'm sharing how painted my nails tonight. And yes, this warrants an entire post because I haven't had them painted since November (Gasp!). I used to do my nails in this style all of the time. It was my signature style in sophomore year of my undergrad: diagonal color stripe with silver sparkle bottoms.

Don't look too close or you'll see the smudges.

This type of manicure looks fancier but it's actually easier for me. My cuticles are a jaggedy (made up word?) hot mess all of the time, so by doing clear sparkles on the bottom and colour only on the tips I don't need to worry about smeared polish on my skin. This works for me!

To get a similar look, place scotch tape mid-nail on the diagonal. Paint two thin coats of colored polish & peel scotch tape off before 2nd coat dries. Carefully fill in the bottom half of nails with clear, silver or coloured sparkles, doing extra coats if needed. Follow with a glossy top coat for lots of shine and staying power.

I don't always paint my fingernails, although I normally keep my toes painted in the summer. On my fingernails, I tend to go either completely bare or something extravagant. How about you?

 

Pssst: I'll be away this weekend to visit a close friend in my former university-town, so don't expect any noise around here until Monday. Hope you all have a great long weekend and that you get to enjoy some quality time with your loved ones. xoxo

easy mondays

I haven't quite been feeling well since late last week, but it's nothing more than a nuisance. I've got a bit of chest congestion and an occasionally nasty-sounding cough, but I've managed to avoid most of the icky symptoms most colds/flus bring like headaches, all kinds of nasal problems and body aches. That's great and all, but I somehow managed to get a tiny canker on the inside of my lip. Where the heck did that come from? I rarely ever get them, maybe once every 3-5 years.

The whole point of me filling you in on my minor sickness is to show you what I bought to treat myself. Do you guys do that, buy yourself something nice to make you feel better? At least this time my gift to myself has a meaningful purpose. I bought some tea from David's Tea! Nothing like hot tea to soothe a scratchy throat...

I brewed myself a cup of the oolong as soon as I got home and I must say, it was pretty flavorful. The peachy, nutty smell was so inviting! The flavour was not as intense as I would have liked, but next time I'll just steep it a bit longer. I drank it in bed while reading a few pages of my newest library find and chatting with D while he folded some laundry.

And this is how I ended my night.

Cuddled up on the couch with my unusually affectionate dog, sketching my future home, making fun of Cee-Lo's crazy outfit on the Voice and eating sour cream and onion chips. Perfect.

As much as I lament (and dread) Mondays, sometimes they just aren't so bad. Sometimes they're pretty good.